Dear All,

Today I had a few free hours for some manual work. So I had this Austrian M1851 tube-lock cavalry carbine. This is the smooth bore version. This gun was prepared for export to 3rd World countries, so both the rear sight and the front sight were eliminated sometime in the last decades of the 19th century. That’s why it was cheaper than usual.

Today I recreated the front sight using an original as a reference.

Starting material was a 14mm steel rod.

Both the base and blade height are 5 mm.

The most time consuming part was filing the concave shape of the bottom matching the bore.

This is done with sanding paper. I put it on a 22 mm metal bar (matching the diameter of the bore at the muzzle) covered with sanding paper.

Seems like good fit.

I sanded and cleaned both surfaces. First with acid, than with lye, and finally cleaned with water. I covered both surfaces with soldering paste. I used normal tin based solder.

Next will be replacing the rear sight. Bit more difficult, but definitely not impossible.

Take care,

Balázs